Everex Freestyle
Based purely on superficial first impressions, the Everex Freestyle looks good, being a no-frills model the exact same size as a PalmPilot; but the Philips Nino, which is quite a lot bigger, seems to have better thought out controls and an intriguing voice control package. I've been able to spend enough time for more serious consideration with only the Everex Freestyle (I'm sure there's a recent review in PCPro, if I only ever saw the reviews schedule). I have to say that I like the look of the Freestyle better than that of the Pilot: it is a darker grey with a more solid, squarer cut to the casing, rather than the rounder, more waxy Palm III. The rounded edges of the Palm III make it significantly smaller than the Freestyle, even though the edge to edge dimensions are roughly the same.
One area that I am not satisfied with, in practice, is the proliferation of buttons around the edge of the case. Like the Pilot, it has four programmable application buttons on the front of the case. But around the sides of the case it has: another application button (defaulting to the voice recorder), a backlight control, a contrast control, a power button, an Escape button, and a rocker switch that takes the place of cursor up/down and select functions. These are mandated by the Windows CE Palm-sized specification. It isn't possible to pick up the machine without pressing at least one button; the placement of buttons also means that you have to hold it in your left hand, with the stylus in your right. I gave it to my left-handed son to test for a while, and he was happy to use it that way around for most purposes, but not for text input.
The display is also the exact same size as the Palm III (which is the same as all the other Pilot models), but a much higher resolution. Most of the time this is effectively a lot bigger, because the text entry windows are only open when you need them, unlike on the Pilot. When in use for text entry, it takes up slightly more space than on the Pilot, by about the size of the Task bar. Having to bring up the text input area is a noticeable inconvenience when you need it, unlike the everpresent Grafitti window on the Palm III.
I don't know if this feature will crop up on other palm-sized PCs, but the Freestyle has a vibrate option for the alarm. If you select a flashing light (i.e. silent) alarm and have enabled vibration in the control panel, the vibrator feature is activated. If kept next to your skin, either inside you waistband or in a front trouser pocket, this is impossible to miss. It seems to run for about three seconds, and unfortunately I couldn't find any way to vary this duration.
Everex supply the Freestyle with a reasonable docking station, with a couple of useful features. It acts as a desk stand, but can be collapsed into a briefcase friendly unit; it also has a built in modem, and can power the Freestyle when it is in the stand.
At the time of writing Everex, who don't have existing distribution channels in the UK, haven't finalised distribution arrangements, and haven't yet set a price. However, it is expected to sell for £299 including VAT, the same as the Palm III (which doesn't come with a modem or mains power supply).
Words and design by:
Paul Lynch
Last updated: June 8, 1998